Tag You're It!
by suburbs
Summary: A series of unrelated JONAS episode tags. Newest chapter for Double Date.
1. More Than a Mime

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: Writer's block is lame. And so is getting up at 5:45 every day. So my solution is a series of episode tags which I am going to post as a collection of stories. This is the first one, and it is for "Cold Shoulder". The episode is a bonus on the Season One DVD but can also be viewed on-line. I think it will make sense if you haven't seen the episode – I tried not to give away too much._

Macy stood next to her best friend in the Lucas' kitchen waiting for the popcorn to finish popping so that their CSI marathon could begin. The show had become one of their inside jokes after the big hunt for the secret inside paparazzi.

"Hey Stella?" Macy asked hesitantly as she pulled paper napkins out of the pantry. "How's Kevin doing? Without Anya, I mean."

The blond looked up in surprise, "Oh, he got over that days ago. I set him up with the president of their French fan club."

Macy felt her stomach clench as she tried to process this new information. "Wait, Kevin went out with the presidents of the Scandinavian and French fan clubs?"

Wrinkling her nose, Stella replied, "I'm not sure if he and the French girl ever made it out of their imaginary box and actually went on a date, but they seemed to hit it off."

"Oh," Macy replied flatly. "That's nice."

"She was weird, but at least it cheered him up," her friend said before holding out a bowl of fluffy, buttered popcorn and announcing. "It's done."

Macy followed Stella into the family room and collapsed onto the couch. After giving a small smile to the three brothers, she took a handful of popcorn and tried to concentrate on the show. To the casual observer it looked like she was watching the first episode along with everyone else, but she was too busy being miserable to actually process what was happening on the screen. She had always told herself no matter what they said to the press, the guys would never want to date some crazy fan girl – it would just be too weird for them. She tried to be happy with being their friend knowing they could never see her as a potential date since she was such a huge fan. But apparently they did fall for fans.

Just not her.

Those girls probably didn't maim the guys with sports equipment or dress their dates up like Nick. They were probably prettier and smarter and more together than she was.

But they didn't actually know the Lucas brothers as people. They didn't know that behind that serious demeanor, Nick had a wicked sense of humor. They didn't know that cocky, arrogant Joe was insecure about girls. And they didn't know that goofy Kevin was the sweetest guy on the planet.

It hurt that she knew all these things, and that they knew her – but Kevin would still rather date some fish-stew drinking blond or a French mime that he had just met.

It wasn't that he wasn't attracted to fans; he just wasn't attracted to her.

About three-quarters of the way through the episode, she had finally had enough. She had to get out of there. Leaning over, she whispered in Stella's ear, "I'm not feeling well. I think I'll head home."

"Are you sure?" her friend whispered back.

"Yeah. I'll talk to you later."

Getting up quietly so not to disturb everyone else, she tip-toed to the door and slipped out of the house.

When the episode ended, Kevin glanced around the family room and asked, "Hey! Where'd Macy go?"

"She said she wasn't feeling well and went home," Stella replied.

"Is she okay? What was wrong?" He replied, obviously worried. He hoped she didn't have a tummy ache. He hated those.

"I don't know. She didn't say." Stella paused a moment in thought before hitting her forehead and exclaiming, "I'm an idiot. That wasn't an 'I'm sick' not feeling well; that was an 'I'm upset about something' not feeling well. How could I have missed it?"

"Huh?" Nick asked, looking confused. Kevin was glad that his younger brother had asked because he didn't get it either.

Rolling her eyes, the stylist explained, "Haven't you ever been upset about something and wanted an excuse to get away?"

"Sure," Nick replied. "But one of the benefits of being the serious, artistic one is that I can just sort of glower and pick up a guitar and everyone leaves me alone."

"Nice," Stella said appreciatively. "I wonder if that would work for me with a sketch pad."

"Why was Macy upset?" Kevin asked, trying to get everyone back on topic. Sick Macy was bad, but upset Macy was even worse. He didn't like it when Macy was sad.

"Yeah, she seemed fine when you guys got here," Joe observed.

"Nothing happened," Stella insisted. "We went into the kitchen and made popcorn." She paused and her eyes went wide. "And I told her about the mime girl."

"She was pretty upsetting," Nick agreed. "I've been trying to block out the memory myself."

Stella rolled her eyes again, "She wasn't upset about the miming – I think that she was upset that Kevin had another girlfriend."

"Wait?" Kevin asked in confusion. "I have a girlfriend? When did that happen?"

"Are you dating the French fan club president?" Stella asked.

"No. We're just mime buddies," Kevin said. "You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find someone to mime with."

"I'm surprised you found anyone to mime with," Nick muttered.

"Wow. I was sure you two were dating," Joe said. "You looked pretty cozy in that box."

"Miming is a great way to build a friendship, but it just isn't enough of a foundation for a meaningful relationship," Kevin explained. "It lacks romance and stability."

After a stunned silence, Nick placed a hand on his oldest brother's shoulder. "Those are words to live by," he deadpanned.

"So should I call Macy and tell her I'm not dating the French mime?" Kevin asked. He really didn't want Macy to be upset with him. She was one of his best friends – plus her smile made him feel all bubbly inside. And just thinking about her crying made him want to eat lots and lots of ice cream.

"I don't think you should mention anything," Stella said. "I'm sure she never meant for you to find out she was upset about it."

"And we don't actually know for sure that's what's bothering her," Nick observed.

Kevin was vaguely aware that Nick and Stella were arguing in the background, but he was too busy thinking about Macy. If she was upset he dated those other girls, did that mean she liked him? And how did he feel about her? He had been so caught up in Anya that he had never really thought about Macy like that. But she was pretty and funny. Plus she was sort of like their knight in shining armor – swopping in to help protect them from other crazy fan girls and outsmarting that scary Fiona chick. And it was cool how she never worried about looking weird or made fun of him for his animal ideas.

And as an added bonus, she went to his school. He wouldn't have to move to Scandinavia or France to date her.

Without saying a word to anyone, he got up and headed to his car. A few minutes later he found himself standing in front of Macy's front door. Without hesitating, he quickly rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer. He heard someone unlocking the door, which opened to reveal a red-eyed Macy. He could tell she had been crying, and his heart hurt just looking at her.

"Want to go to the zoo with me?" He blurted out.

Macy blinked in surprise before responding, "I don't think it's still open, Kev."

"Right," he said and tried to regroup. "How about this weekend? Would you like to go to the zoo with me on Saturday?" He realized that the invitation was probably still a little vague. "On a date," he added.

Her eyes went wide, "I thought Stella said you were dating the French fan club president." Then as an afterthought, she added, "Whose site isn't nearly as good as mine, by the way."

He shook his head, "Once we got out of the box, we had nothing to say to each other."

Macy got a puzzled look on her face, "Isn't that the point of miming – not saying anything."

"Sure, but you can't mime an entire relationship," he pointed out. "You have to talk too. Can you imagine trying to mime over the phone? It would never work." After a pause he added, "So do you want to go to the zoo with me?"

"Do you really want to go with me or are you just working your way through the fan club presidents?" She asked sounding a little bitter.

"I really want to go to the zoo with my friend Macy from school," he said earnestly. "I think I'm going to stop dating fans – they're too unpredictable."

"Kevin, I'm a fan."

He shook his head. "You used to be a fan," he pointed out. "But now you're way more than that."

"Really?"

When he nodded, Macy's face lit up with the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

"I'd love to go on a date with you," she said happily.

He grinned at her, thrilled that she had said yes. Then he leaned over and wrapped his arms around her, picking her up and spinning her around in the air. As she giggled, he decided it was even more fun to be the one whose feet were on the ground.

And he wondered if Macy would let him give her piggyback rides to class.


	2. Spies Like Us

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: So you'll realize almost immediately that these tags are in no way related to each other. Especially since this is a Nick/Macy tag to "Cold Shoulder". I tried to write it without giving away the photo plot, but then I couldn't think of a good way to end it. So if you haven't seen the episode, this does have a tiny spoiler. And Nick is a little OC, but he is getting much more patient with Macy and I ran with that._

Macy stood at her locker happily humming off-key. She couldn't believe that Joe and Nick had forgiven her so easily – especially Nick. She had been sure that he would be furious when he realized it had been her all along. Remembering his words, that he knew she would never do something like that to them on purpose, made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Of course, thinking about Nick Lucas usually made her feel warm. Warm and nervous. He was just so serious and intense and adorable and…

"Hey, Macy," someone behind her said.

The voice startled her and she dropped her armful of books on to the floor with a loud crash. Closing her eyes, she winced, afraid to see how much damage she had done to whomever was standing behind her. If she was lucky it would just be someone who sounded exactly like Nick.

"It's okay, Macy. You can open your eyes; they all missed me," the boy who was hopefully not Nick said, sounding amused.

Slowly opening one eye, she saw a smirking Nick Lucas standing a few feet away from her, out of the danger-zone as promised. Sighing in relief, she opened both eyes and looked apologetic. "You startled me," she explained.

"I noticed," he replied wryly.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that," she scolded. "Especially people holding lots of heavy books."

"In my defense, I wasn't trying to sneak anywhere," he said. "I was just trying to say hello."

"Oh," she said, biting her lip. Then smiling, she added, "Hello!"

"Hello," he said back with one of his rare smiles. "How about I help you pick these up to make up for my sneakiness."

Nodding, she watched him bend down to pick up her books, placing them into her backpack as he handed them up to her. Her mind was racing – he had never voluntarily spoken to her without Stella or his brothers around. What was going on?

When he had finished, she gave him a shy smile and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

And then he didn't move. He just stood there in front of her like she was supposed to say something else, but she had no idea what it might be. Finally he cleared his throat and said, "So I've been thinking about the dance."

"The dance?" Macy asked in confusion. She had no idea what on earth he was talking about.

"You know, the winter dance last week."

"Oh, that dance," she replied with sudden understanding. "Or as I like to think about it, the night I hid behind a fake tree looking for an imaginary villain. Good times."

"You didn't know that there wasn't really a paparazzi," he pointed out. "And I feel bad that you gave up a chance to dance and have fun to help us out."

"Don't worry about it," she said earnestly, waving her hand. "I had way more fun hiding behind a tree with you than I would have had dancing with anyone else."

Her eyes went wide as she realized what she had just said. Hurrying to try and correct her mistake, she added, "And not because I think you're gorgeous or anything. I just really liked being a detective."

She clapped her hand over her mouth, aware that her last statements had not made things better. But from the look on his face, she was pretty sure that Nick was finding her dilemma to be amusing. At least someone was enjoying themselves.

"And I think I'm going to go home now before I manage to stick both feet in my mouth," she said covering her eyes with one hand in embarrassment. It was like she had no control over what came out of her mouth when he was around.

Before she could take a step, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. "Relax, Macy. There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

She removed her hand from her face and looked at him incredulously, not even noticing that he was still touching her. "Are you joking?" She asked.

"What's wrong with telling a friend you like spending time with him?"

When he put it like that, it didn't sound as weird and stalkerish as she had imagined. He was glossing over the fact that she had called him gorgeous, but if he was willing to pretend that hadn't happened, she would go along with it.

"I guess," she replied, still not sounding totally convinced. And then she realized that his hand was still resting on her shoulder. A tingling sensation radiated down her arm, and she could feel a blush start to spread across her cheeks. She turned her head and looked down at his hand. At that moment, he seemed to realize he was still touching her and lifted his hand to run his fingers through his curls. The tingling stopped, and she couldn't help feeling disappointed. And thinking that this was one of the strangest moments of her life.

Clearing his throat for a second time, he began talking again. "Anyway, I felt bad about the dance, and I thought maybe I could make it up to you."

"You don't have to do anything, Nick. I was happy to help," she interrupted.

"Macy," he began again.

"Really. You guys are my friends, and I take it very personally when anyone messes with you."

"Macy!" He said loudly this time. "Can you just let me finish?"

"Sorry," she replied meekly. She was surprised that he hadn't just given up and stalked off dramatically. He wasn't known for being a patient guy.

"I'm trying to invite you to a movie premiere and after-party on Friday. Do you want to go or not?" He asked sounding frustrated.

A million different thoughts went flying through her head. Nick of Jonas was asking her to go somewhere. He was asking her, Macy Misa, to go do something. Was he asking her on a date or was it a friend thing? And what on earth would she wear? And would it be bad form to post photos of the red carpet on her website?

And then she realized that he was still standing in front of her waiting for an answer. She was afraid that if she tried to talk, she would say something stupid, so she just nodded.

"Is that a yes?" He asked.

Accepting that she was going to have to actually say something, she replied, "Yes. I mean, yes, that is a yes. I would like to go to the movie and party with you. I mean, not _with_, with you, because you weren't asking me on a date or anything. Just a friend asking another friend to do something strictly as friends…" Her voice petered out as her brain finally caught up with her mouth. Wincing, she added, "I promise I won't talk on Friday night."

"You can't come unless you talk."

"But I sound like a total idiot around you," she pointed out.

He shrugged, "I think you're sort of adorable."

"You do?" Something in the way he was looking at her made her blush.

He nodded. "So Friday, you'll be my date for the premiere?"

"A date-date or a friend-date?"

"How about we figure it out as we go along?"

Grinning, she nodded. She could definitely live with that.

And she was going to have to read her phone manual before Friday because she was pretty sure she just posted a photo of Nick's right ear on her website.


	3. Perfect Profile

_Disclaimer: Do not own JONAS._

_A/N: This is a tag for "Beauty and the Beat". I loved how Nick was so serious in this one, but was saddened by the lack of Macy. I wanted to write a Nick/Macy tag and came up with two ideas. This first one is short and a little goofy. The next one should be a little longer and more "romantic"._

"Hey, Nick," Macy greeted him cheerfully. "Did you have fun judging that Most Amazing Teen thing?"

"Not really," he said warily, wondering how much she knew about the pageant. "It was okay, I guess."

"Just okay?" She asked incredulously. "You're a teenage boy who spent three days hanging out with beautiful girls. How was that just okay?"

He shrugged, "I didn't really hang out with them – I wanted to be fair and impartial. Plus," he added, "they weren't really my type."

"You don't like beautiful, talented girls?"

"I do," he assured her. "But they were just so…plastic."

Nodding in understanding, she replied, "Stella did say that not everyone there had her original nose."

"That's not what I meant," he said, before adding, "but now that you mention it, I'd bet Georgia had some work done. And maybe North Dakota." Focusing back on the original topic, he said, "What I meant was that they just seemed so fake. They were all smiles and speeches about world peace, but I watched how they treated Stella. They were conniving and catty and only interested in getting the spotlight and that stupid crown. Who'd want to be around girls like that?"

"Wow," she said breathlessly. "That's very insightful of you."

He smiled at her and joked, "I am the serious, romantic one you know."

"I know," she replied, looking at him with her big, innocent brown eyes. "And a genius too."

"A few points short," he pointed out, not wanting to mislead her. For some reason it was important to him that Macy knew the real Nick. As they stood in the hallway staring at each other, he gulped and considered taking the next step – finally telling her that somehow over the past few months she had become his type. He had been surprised by the fact himself, but he couldn't deny that after watching her outsmart Fiona, he had started to see JONAS' number one super fan in a whole new light.

Before he had a chance to say anything, he saw Stella heading towards them with Kevin and Joe trailing along behind. With a huge grin on her face, Stella announced, "Nick, I just read the most fascinating article in _Teen Weekly_."

"That's great, Stella. I'm happy for you," he said with a hint of sarcasm, wanting to get back to his conversation with Macy.

Flipping open a magazine, JONAS' stylist began reading, "Nick Lucas of JONAS told our reporter that the girls at the Miss Most Amazing Teen Competition were all very impressive, but that that they weren't really his type. When asked to describe his ideal girl, he replied…" Nick felt his heart begin to pound loudly, remembering what he had told the woman. "that he liked fun, spontaneous, athletic girls who weren't afraid to be themselves around him."

Time seemed to freeze. Nick stood in shock looking between a smirking Stella and a confused looking Macy. He couldn't believe that Stella had done that to him. He had known that there was a chance that Macy might eventually read the article; he had even hoped that it would give her a hint about how he felt about her, but he hadn't expected to be standing there next to her when she heard it.

"Does it really say that?" Macy asked, grabbing the magazine out of her best friend's hands. Scanning the page, she looked up and exclaimed, "Oh, my gosh! I've got to go update my website before people read this. I can't believe I have Nick's perfect girl profile wrong!"

And then she turned and took off running down the hallway towards the computer lab, leaving all three Lucas brothers and Stella standing in stunned silence.


	4. Another Rescue

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: Here is Nick/Macy "Beauty and the Beat" tag number two. Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed so far. A special shout out to angellwings and From the End of Heaven for your lovely reviews. And thank you to LIttleRedOne for helping me out with the ending._

Nick couldn't wait to get to the car and away from this beauty contest nightmare. He wasn't sure which had been worse, watching his brothers flirt with the vapid contestants or watching Stella morph into one of them. And he couldn't even go home and pretend the evening never happened because now had to go help save Stella from herself. All he wanted to do was get back home and maybe call Macy to assure himself that there were sane girls in the universe. He paused for a moment to appreciate the irony of Macy being the sanest girl he knew before realizing that he had somehow lost his brothers in his haste to get to the car.

Glancing around, he couldn't see Joe and Kevin anywhere, but he did see three contestants bearing down on him with a familiar predatory look in their eyes. He knew he had to find a way to get out of there quickly because he had no desire to be anyone's consolation prize.

The tallest of the three girls, a bleached blond who towered a good four inches over him, approached first. "Hi, Nick. We just wanted to tell you how impressed we were by your professionalism," she practically purred.

"Thank you," he said formally, not wanting to encourage them too much.

Soon a brunette in a low-cut tank top joined her friend. "You're our favorite JONAS," she added, batting her very long eyelashes at him.

"We were just going out to a party," the third girl, a petite redhead, added. "Would you like to come with us?"

At that moment, he realized he was surrounded; they had backed him up against a wall and he had no means of escape. He knew he had to approach this carefully because those sort of girls would not hesitate to crucify him in the press if he offended them at all. Or twist anything he said or did to their own advantage. He decided that in a situation like this, a little lie wouldn't hurt.

Giving them a small smile, he said, "Thanks for the invite, but I have a girlfriend and I don't think she'd appreciate me going to a party with a group of pretty girls."

He had hoped that they would back off once they heard the word girlfriend and that the compliment would appease their egos, but they were not that easily distracted.

"A girlfriend?" The blond asked, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm. "How come we've never heard about her?"

Before he could respond, Nick heard a girl's voice behind him. "I believe he said he had a girlfriend. And I bet she would really like it if you took your hands off her boyfriend."

The three girls turned to see who had dared to talk to them like that, and as they did, Nick could see Macy Misa standing there with both of her hands on her hips and a seriously menacing look on her face. He grinned in relief; she must have come to the competition to support Stella. And then he had a brilliant idea. He took a step towards her and said, "There you are sweetheart."

He reached Macy before she could say anything and pulled her against his chest in a giant hug with his back to the other girls. Leaning down, he whispered, "Take a deep breath, Mace. Can you play along for me?"

When he felt her nod, he released her and slipped one arm around her waist. "Girls, meet my girlfriend Macy."

The blond, who appeared to be the leader, scoffed, looking Macy over with obvious distaste, "You expect us to believe that you're dating her?"

He could feel Macy stiffen at the insult, and he pulled her closer to him like that would somehow protect her. He wanted to hit the girl for hurting his friend, but instead he took a deep breath and said, "Macy is the coolest girl I know, and I'm lucky to be dating her." He looked the bleached blond in the eyes and continued, "She's smart and funny and has a wicked three point shot." Glancing over at Macy, he saw her grinning at him, her eyes shining with gratitude. He added softly, "Plus, she has the most amazing smile I've ever seen."

Realizing that his announcement had rendered the three contestants speechless, he use the arm that was still around Macy's waist to steer her towards the back door, hoping that the car was there waiting for him. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the large black limo with tinted windows standing outside the theater. He quickly opened the door for Macy and followed her inside.

Once they were settled, an awkward silence filled the car. He noticed that her face was flushed and that she was making an obvious effort not to look at him.

"So, thanks for helping me out back there," he said. "You always seem to come along just in time to rescue us."

"You're welcome," she replied quietly. "And thank you for standing up for me. It was really sweet of you."

Nick knew that this was one of those turning points. Here was the perfect opportunity to be honest with her and tell her he meant every word of it. He could explain that over the past few months as she had mellowed and become their friend, that he had started to see her differently. He could hold her hand and sing her the song he had written about her earlier in the week.

"It was nothing – no one gets away with insulting JONAS' number one super fan when I'm around."

Or he could totally wimp out.

The moment it was out of his mouth, he wished he could take it back. He saw a flicker of disappointment flit across Macy's face before she gave him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I guess that means we've got each other's backs," she said before turning and looking out the tinted windows.

Sighing, he reached out and took one of her hands. "Look, you know I meant all of that back there, right?" As soon as she looked at him with her big, brown eyes, he knew she didn't believe him. "You are the coolest girl I know, and I …" he took a deep breath before continuing, "I really do like you a lot."

He wasn't sure what response he had expected, but it wasn't for her to look sad. "Come on, Nick. You don't need to lie to me. Up until a couple weeks ago, you barely tolerated me. You don't really expect me to believe that suddenly I'm someone important to you."

"Of course you're important to me. You're one of my best friends."

"Really? She asked sounding doubtful. "You aren't just saying that to be nice?"

"Macy, I'm not that nice, and I wouldn't say things to you that I didn't mean." He could tell she still didn't quite believe him. "You know what I was thinking while I was judging that stupid contest?" He asked her, sounding frustrated. "I was wondering why any guy would want to date someone fake like those beauty contestants when there were girls like you out there."

"Really?" She asked again, this time sounding hopeful.

"Really," he assured her.

"Thanks," she whispered shyly.

As they sat in silence, he realized that he may have created a problem. "You know that there is a good chance those girls are going to tell people were dating, right?"

"The thought had occurred to me," she replied.

He realized that he didn't mind the idea of people thinking he was dating Macy; the only issue was that he wanted it to be true. He took a deep breath and smiled at Macy, "So do you think that you might possibly want to go on a date with me sometime? Keep me from looking like an idiot and a liar?"

Macy looked at him searchingly. "Is that the only reason you want to go out with me?"

"No. I would really like to take you on a date – I just thought that if I put it that way it would be harder for you to refuse," he admitted.

"You know I can't pass up an opportunity to rescue a member of JONAS," she said. "But in this case, I'd rather just be asked out by my friend Nick from school."

He couldn't help but grin; she wanted to go out with him. "I think he can do that." He moved seats so that he could be next to her. "Macy, would you like to go to the movies with me next weekend?"

Macy looked thoughtful before replying, "Is there anything good playing?" He stared at her blankly before she started to giggle and he realized she was kidding. "Of course I would like to go to the movies with you."

She looked adorable smiling up at him with her brown eyes sparkling. As he leaned in to kiss her, the door of the limo was thrown open, and Kevin and Joe dove in, screaming, "Go! Go!"

The driver hit the gas as soon as Joe had shut the door. As his two older brothers panted, Nick looked at them and asked, "Problem?"

"Apparently the girls we chatted up got together and realized we couldn't have actually voted for them all," Joe explained. "And they were not very pleased with us."

"They tried to string me up by my ascot," Kevin said sounding traumatized. "I am so not nominating any of them for Miss Congeniality." Glancing around the limo in confusion, he added, "Hi, Macy. What're you doing here?"

Smirking, Nick put his arm around Macy's shoulder and leaned over to kiss her head. "Can't a girl stop by to visit her boyfriend?" He asked his brothers. Macy giggled again and snuggled against him, while his brothers stared at him in shock. As he began to hum the beginning of a new song he thought might work to salvage Stella's dignity, he decided that it had turned out to be a pretty awesome night after all.


	5. Cuddly Kitten with Claws

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N 1: This is a very short tag for the episode about Stella's birthday (and I am too lazy to look up the official title). Was anyone else excited that Macy was so normal around them and seemed to be fully integrated into the group? Also, if you haven't read it yet, I would recommend angellwing's tag for this episode called "Special". This should be my last tag for awhile – I know I've inundated you with posts recently. For anyone interested in Pure Horace Mantis, there is a second note at the bottom._

As they were putting away the board game, Stella gave the three boys in front of her an appraising look, "So," she asked, obviously trying to sound casual, "I've been meaning to ask, which one of you actually remembered that you forgot my birthday?"

Kevin winced and waited, not wanting to be the one to tell her that none of them had remembered. He still couldn't believe that they been such idiots. Well, he could actually believe that he and Nick had forgotten, but Joe was usually pretty good about anything related to their stylist.

"Unfortunately, none of us. Macy told us," Nick admitted.

"Yeah," Kevin piped in. "She yelled at me."

"I did not yell," Macy insisted. "There was some glaring involved, and I may have used my stern, serious voice, but I did not yell."

"Ah, Macy," Stella said, sounding touched. "You glared at a JONAS for me?" Stella opened her arms and the two friends hugged. After a moment, they pulled apart grinning.

"They may be gorgeous international rock stars," Macy began, her voice starting to sound dreamy, "with amazing eyes and lyrics that pierce your soul…" She shook her head and began using her normal voice again, "but you're my best friend which is way more important."

"Really?" Stella asked.

"Really," Macy said firmly, and the two girls hugged again and did some sort of girly-friendship squeal.

"So I have amazing eyes, huh?" Joe said, breaking the moment.

"And our lyrics pierce your soul?" Nick added with a smirk.

Kevin was going to point out that she had also said that they were gorgeous, when Stella stepped in, "Leave her alone guys."

"No Stella, it's okay," Macy said. She looked over at Joe and Nick, put her hands on her hips and said with a slight edge to her voice, "I've glared at a JONAS before; don't make me do it again."

Nick chuckled, "Somehow I don't' find the prospect that frightening."

"That's cause it didn't happen to you," Kevin offered. Macy hadn't been especially scary, but he really didn't want her to be mad at him again. He liked smiling, cheerful Macy best.

"I wish I'd been there to see it," Joe replied, obviously trying to picture what had happened.

"It was a little like having a cute, cuddly kitten hiss at you," Kevin observed thinking back to the incident in the hallway. "You know it has teeth and claws and could probably hurt you, but it's so adorable that you just can't take it that seriously."

After he finished his analogy he noticed that everyone in the room was looking at Macy, evidently worried about something. When he glanced over at her, he noticed that she looked pale and was taking short, shallow breathes. Stella spoke up first, "Relax, Mace." She guided her friend over to a chair and helped her sit down. "Put your head between your knees and concentrate on breathing."

Kevin was confused about what was going on. "Is she okay?"

Stella nodded, "She's way better about the fan girl stuff now, but I think hearing you call her cute, cuddly and adorable in one sentence was an overload. We should probably stick to one compliment per sentence in the future."

"Oh," Kevin said, finally understanding. "Got it."

"I'm okay now," Macy said, lifting up her head. "And really, he wasn't calling me cute, cuddly and adorable. He was talking about a hypothetical cat."

"But I do think you're adorable," Kevin pointed out.

"We all do," Nick added, and Joe nodded in agreement.

"Really?" Macy squeaked. "Thanks guys." She sat in the chair grinning at them. But then a serious look crossed her face, "But just so you know, you hurt Stella like that again, and the claws are coming out."

Kevin tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn't help but smile at the tiny brunette sitting in front of him. She really was adorable.

_A/N2: The Pure Horace Mantis community is only a few people away from having 100 subscribers. That seemed like a noteworthy moment, so I wanted to do something to celebrate. Would anyone be interested in some sort of challenge or list of prompts? If so, I will start working on something and put it up when we reach the 100 mark. I was thinking of perhaps a banner for anyone who participated. You can pop comments into a review or a PM to give feedback._


	6. Striking Out

_Disclaimer: I don't own JONAS._

_A/N: I am a very bad person and am posting a tag on an unaired episode. Hopefully the fact that I will Tivo it and watch it once it airs will make up for that. So, if you haven't seen Double Date, this will make sense – just not as much as if you had seen it. My favorite part was Macy and Van Dyke at school. She was awesome, and it merited a tag._

_Dedication: For __Standard-Ang3l; sorry it wasn't in time to distract you from your studying._

Macy stood outside Meat clutching her helmet and wishing she hadn't promised Stella she would hang around until Van Dyke's mom showed up to take them home from their disastrous dinner. As soon as Joe had driven away, Stella had rushed to the restroom, leaving Macy alone with her best friend's date.

"Sooo girl-dude," Van Dyke finally said, breaking the awkward silence, "you clean up pretty good."

She couldn't believe those words had just come out of his mouth. They had been at the same school for three years and had played against each other countless times, and he still wouldn't call her by her first name? When he noticed her incredulous look, he added, "I mean, you look really, really nice in that dress, Macy."

"So you do know my name," she said with a smirk.

"Of course I do. They've only announced it a million times at the sports banquet every year," he pointed out.

"You've just never used it before."

"Yeah. Sorry about that," he replied before they went back to standing in silence.

She sneaked a quick glance over at the football player and couldn't help but appreciate that he did look good tonight – if you liked the clean-cut, jock type.

Which she sort of did, just not as much as she liked the dreamy rock star type.

"You look nice too," she said without looking over at the boy next to her. She wasn't sure why she said that; his ego was large enough as it was. In fact, it was only rivaled by Joe's. Maybe it was because she felt sort of bad that his date had been so horrible. At least she had known going in that she was only there as an extra in Stella and Joe's drama – he had actually thought he had a chance with her friend.

"Thanks. Always like to look nice for the ladies," he said with a grin.

Macy winced a little. He really wasn't that bright, was he? She couldn't help but wonder if he even knew that Joe was there to steal the girl right out from under his nose. "You do know that Stella and Joe like each other, right?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah," Van Dyke said with a sigh. "I figured it out when she threatened him with the meat sword."

"Really? It took you that long?"

Shrugging, he admitted, "I'm not that good at picking up on things sometimes."

He actually looked sort of sad – like a little puppy who just lost his favorite chew toy. And thinking about him striking out with Stella…again, reminded her of something. Before she really thought it through, she blurted out, "You can't hit a curve ball."

"Huh?" Van Dyke asked, obviously confused.

"That's how I struck you out eleven times. I watched you play and noticed you couldn't hit a curve ball to save your life."

"Oh. Okay," he said, still looking perplexed by her announcement.

"I just thought I'd tell you because it's something you could easily fix with a little hard work," she pointed out. "I mean I used to have trouble hitting free throws, but I worked on it and now I hold the state record for most free throws in a season."

Van Dyke blinked, "That's sort of scary and impressive at the same time."

She narrowed her eyes, "I was trying to be helpful. No need to make fun of me."

He held up his hands defensively, "Relax! I wasn't making fun of you."

"Fine," Macy huffed, crossing her arms and staring straight ahead at the parking lot, wondering when his mother was going to show up. She wanted this night to be over, but she was also sort of curious to catch a glimpse of the woman who would saddle her off-spring with such an unfortunate name. Like Tosh wasn't bad enough all on its own without adding Van Dyke to the mix.

"Do you think you could help me?" He blurted out, startling Macy. She had no idea how to respond to that since she wasn't sure which of his many problems he wanted help with – his batting, his date with Stella, his general cluelessness, his horrific name. "Could you help me hit a curve ball?"

She sent up a silent prayer of thanks that it was the one problem she could actually solve. She nodded and said, "You're not a bad player – I could probably straighten you out in a couple hours."

"Really?" He sounded almost as excited as he had about the meat. "That'd be awesome cause I really want to make varsity this year."

She gave him an appraising look before answering, "I will totally help you," she paused before adding, "but you have to promise to never call me girl-dude again."

"Deal," he agreed. Then he grinned at her and said, "After seeing you in that dress, I may start calling you arm candy."

Clenching her teeth, she hissed, "Call me that and I'll make you cry like a girl again. In a very public place."

"Fair enough. Macy it is."

"Excellent. I think we understand each other. How about Sunday afternoon at the baseball diamond at school?"

"I can do that," Van Dyke replied. Macy felt herself blushing as his eyes swept over her. "Maybe we could grab some pizza after or something."

He almost sounded insecure, which made Macy sort of happy. He certainly wasn't a JONAS, but it was nice to be noticed.

"Maybe," she replied cryptically with a small smile.


	7. Batting Practice

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: This is a follow up to chapter 6. Everyone else seemed to have managed to write a Kevin/Macy tag for Double Date, so I appreciate that you were all willing to at least read my quasi-Macy/Van Dyke. They were my favorite part of that episode, followed closely by Nick trying to get Joe to stop talking. That might deserve a tag too._

_Dedication: For __xovickixo because she asked for more._

As Van Dyke approached the baseball field behind school, he could see that Macy was already standing on the mound waiting for him. His eyes went wide as he took in her appearance – she was wearing a pair of blue track shorts and a gray school t-shirt, both of which hugged her in all the right placed. But what really threw him was her hair – she had it up in two pigtails with burgundy and white ribbons; she looked straight out of his Girls of Collegiate Softball calendar. She was practically a dead ringer for Miss March, who he had to admit was his favorite. How had he never noticed the similarity before?

He stood frozen at the third base line wondering when Macy went from girl-dude to babe. He must have looked like an idiot because she gave him a strange look when she finally noticed him standing there staring at her.

"You ready Van Dyke?" She challenged.

Her voice broke him out of his trance and he smirked at her. "I was born ready, Misa."

She rolled her eyes at him and shot back, "Your stats tell a different story, Tosh. I looked up how you did last season, and your batting needs a serious overhaul if you want to make varisty."

"Really?" He asked, feeling a little let down. He knew he wasn't the greatest hitter on the team, but hearing that from a hot girl sort of stung. "Do you think you can help?"

"Definitely," Macy assured him. "But you're going to have to listen to me and work hard." He nodded, and she continued. "I set up our video camera over there," she gestured towards a camera on a tripod lined up with home plate.

He smirked. The angle of the camera would give her an excellent view of his backside, which he had been told by several girls was one of his better assets. He couldn't help himself, "Nice. From there you'll have an awesome view of my-"

"Stance," she said, cutting him off.

That totally wasn't what he was going to say. "Huh?"

"You were obviously going to point out it would give me a good look at your stance because any other ending for that sentence would be highly inappropriate," she pointed out. "And creepy."

This was not going how he had expected it. So far she had told him he couldn't bat and that he was creepy. "Why is that creepy?" He asked.

"Seriously?" She sounded incredulous. "Talking to girls about your anatomy is just wrong. And so is calling them arm candy, by the way." She gave him an appraising look, "In fact, you'd probably do better with the ladies if you toned down the cockiness in general. Joe Lucas is the only one who can really pull it off, and that's because he's a rock star."

If she was right, that explained a lot about his dating history. He could usually get a first date, but then girls just seemed to lose interest. Sighing, he said, "How about we work on my batting now and save the dating advice for later?"

"Sure," Macy replied. "Get over to the plate and show me what you've got."

He grabbed a bat from the bag sitting behind home plate and cocked it back, waiting for her to throw the first pitch. But instead of throwing the ball, she started to walk towards him, her eyes studying him. He was a fairly confident guy (apparently a little too confident if what Macy said was true), but he had to fight the urge to squirm under her close scrutiny.

"That's really how you stand at the plate?" She asked critically.

He looked down at his feet. "What's wrong with how I stand?"

"You feet are too close together and your hips are turned too far to the right," she pointed out.

He almost dropped his bat when he felt her small hands grab his hips and rotate them to the left. She must have noticed his surprise because she rolled her eyes at him again. "Yes, I'm a girl, and I'm touching you. Get over it and move your feet about two inches further apart."

He gulped and did what she said. Then he tried to concentrate on the words coming out of her mouth and not how cute she looked with her pigtails swinging back and forth as she bossed him around.

"Got it?" She asked him when she finished talking.

"I think so," he said hesitantly. He was pretty sure he had understood most of what she had said, but he had zoned out there for a moment thinking about how pink her lips looked. Strangely, she gave him a huge smile – maybe because he hadn't used one of his trademark Van Dyke Tosh replies.

"I'll go easy on you with the first couple of pitches. Just try to make contact with the ball. I want to get a feel for your timing." With that, she turned and headed back towards the mound.

And he tried not to openly stare at the view this offered. He kept repeating to himself that he was just there to improve his batting. Then the first ball went right past him and he didn't even have his bat up yet.

"Come on Tosh," Macy yelled at him. "That was pathetic!"

Van Dyke narrowed his eyes and hit the next ball she threw. Unfortunately it went foul.

"Nice," Macy called. "Swing a little earlier next time."

Forty pitches later, he was beginning to wonder if Macy was even human or if she was some gorgeous alien cyborg. His arms were aching from swinging so many times and he was covered with sweat, but she still looked fresh and adorable standing on the mound. On the plus side, he was hitting the ball better than he ever had.

"Do you think maybe we can call it a day?" He finally asked. He hated to show weakness, but he needed to be able to throw the football at practice tomorrow.

"Sure," Macy said before bouncing towards him. "You didn't do too bad, Tosh. There might be hope for you yet."

"Thanks," he muttered, not sure that was a compliment. He put the bat back in the bag and began to help her gather up all the balls. After they had collected all the equipment, he picked up the bag for her and began to carry it all to her car.

He noticed that she kept glancing over at him as they walked. "So thanks for helping me," he finally said. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem," she answered with a smile. "We should probably meet a few more times before tryouts."

He stopped and looked at the diminutive brunette standing next to him. "You'd do that?"

"Sure," she replied. "You worked hard. I think that with a few more sessions, you could be a decent hitter." Then she shrugged and added, "Plus, when you drop the cocky jock attitude, you're sort of fun to be around."

He grinned, "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist the Tosh charm."

Narrowing her eyes, Macy said, "It's still not too late for me to change my mind."

Wincing at her tone, he quickly muttered, "Sorry."

"Apology accepted."

They had reached her car, and he hefted the bag into her trunk. "So thanks for helping me," he repeated, aware that he probably sounded like an idiot, but at least he knew that thanking her wouldn't make her mad.

"You're welcome." Glancing around at the empty parking lot, she asked, "Do you need a ride home or something?"

"I was supposed to call my mom when we were done."

"Get in," she replied. "I'll drop you off on my way home, so your mom doesn't have to make an extra trip."

"Thanks," he said again. He opened the door to her little blue car and slid into the front seat. As soon as she turned on the engine, a JONAS song blasted out of the speakers. She reached out and turned down the volume, and he wondered how she could hear if that was how loud she normally played music in her car. Hearing JONAS made him think of Joe and Stella, which triggered another thought. "Hey, do you want to grab some pizza on the way home? My treat."

Macy hesitated for a moment before smiling at him. "Sure. If you can control yourself and act like a gentleman."

"I can do that," he assured her.

"Okay. How about the place on Main Street?"

"Perfect."

He watched as Macy backed the car out of the space and began to drive out of the parking lot. At the first stop sign, she turned and said, "I think next time you should wear your baseball pants. It'll give me a better view of your" she paused a moment and smirked, "stance."

He felt himself start to blush a little at the look she was giving him. He couldn't believe she said that, especially after making him promise to behave like a gentleman.

Macy Misa might very well be the death of him.


	8. Score!

_Disclaimer: I do not own JONAS._

_A/N: Not sure how I ended up putting a mini-story in the middle of my unrelated tags, but that's what happened. This is the end of my Macy/Van Dyke story. Thanks to everyone for reading._

_Dedication: For Brewk and Time-and-Place because they actually wanted more Macy/Van Dyke._

Macy sat with her arms crossed, glaring at her lunch. She hadn't been this angry since the Lucas Brothers forgot Stella's birthday. She and Van Dyke had been meeting up on Sundays to work on his batting and then going out for pizza for the past six weeks, and then today during passing period she heard that he was having coffee with some blond cheerleader after school.

Six weeks!

Sure, they weren't exactly dating, but from the way he looked at her and opened doors for her, she had thought that maybe he actually liked her. And while he wasn't a JONAS, she had sort of let herself start to like him back.

And now she was feeling like a total idiot. Of course he didn't like her. No boy (except poor Randolph) saw her as anything but one of the guys. She might as well tell Van Dyke to go back to calling her girl-dude since that was obviously all she was ever going to be.

"Whatever your sandwich did, I'm sure it's very, very sorry," a voice said from behind her. She turned to see Nick standing with one eyebrow raised.

"The sandwich is an innocent victim. I've been imaging it's Tosh's head and that I can shoot lasers out of my eyes," she explained, only half-kidding.

"You know what," Nick replied, "this sounds more like Kevin's department. When sandwiches are anything but sandwiches, I'm out of my league."

"Fair enough," she said and went back to glaring at her lunch.

She heard the youngest member of JONAS sigh before he sat down next to her. "So what did Van Dyke do?"

"Nothing," she said bitterly, grabbing a carrot and taking a vicious bite out of it. "He just spent lots of time with me for six weeks, made me feel special, and now is going to coffee with Crystal Jenkins."

"The girl on the cheerleading squad?"

"Yup."

"Oh."

She could feel her eyes starting to prickle with unshed tears, and she couldn't believe that she was that close to crying over Van Dyke Tosh of all people. Sure he was cute and could be sweet, but he had the IQ of a trained monkey and still couldn't consistently hit a curve ball. She finally burst out, "What's wrong with me? Am I ugly? Do I have a repulsive personality?"

Nick looked a little wild-eyed as he replied, "What? No! Nothing's wrong with you Macy." Macy rolled her eyes at the frightened boy sitting next to her. He was right; Kevin would have been much better at this. He reached out and awkwardly patted her arm. "You're awesome, Mace. And anyone who would pick Crystal over you is a total idiot."

That was a little better, Macy had to admit, even if she was pretty sure he was just being nice. "Thanks," she said quietly.

"Hey, Macy," a voice boomed, making her jump a little. "I've been looking for you."

"Thank God," Macy heard Nick mutter. Looking up he said, "Hey Tosh. Why don't you sit here. I was just about to go look for Kevin."

"Coward," Macy hissed at her curly-haired friend. He had the grace to wince before grabbing his bag and heading quickly towards the cafeteria.

"So what's up, Misa?" Van Dyke asked as he slid into the seat next to her. "How come you're not smiling that gorgeous smile of yours?"

Macy felt the anger boiling up again. Did he really think he could ask some other girl out and then come be cute and charming and compliment her smile? It didn't work like that!

"So I hear you have a date with Crystal," she said with just a hint of bitterness. "Congratulations."

She wanted him to know that she knew what he had done.

"Huh?" Her head jerked up at the obvious confusion in his voice. "I don't have a date with Crystal."

Now it was her turn to be confused. Everyone had been talking about it in the hallway, but she also knew that Van Dyke was horrible at hiding what he was feeling – every thought or emotion he had flickered across his face. And right now he looked like he was telling the truth.

"But I heard people talking about you two going to coffee after school and how it was about time you made your move," she explained.

"I am meeting her for coffee, but that's because we're partners for a history project," he explained. "Teddy Roosevelt."

"Oh."

"I'm not interested in dating her," Van Dyke continued. "So I have no idea why people were talking about my moves." He grinned at her, "But I do have some pretty awesome moves." Winking, he added, "Almost as good as my stance."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the small smile that appeared at his joke.

"So Macy," he said sounding just a little smug. "You sounded pretty interested in my date there. You weren't jealous by any chance were you?"

"What?" she squeaked. "No!"

"Oh." He actually sounded disappointed at her reply, which made her heart beat a little faster.

Somehow this felt like a turning point. She could take the risk and admit that maybe she was a little jealous and see what he did, or she could act like a girl-dude and just start talking about the basketball game that was on the night before. And while it had been a pretty amazing game, she knew she should go for the scarier option.

"Maybe I was a little jealous," she admitted quietly.

"Really?" He asked happily.

She nodded.

"That's awesome!" He announced with a grin. When she stared at him in disbelief, he explained, "Cause if you were jealous then maybe that means that you might want to go out with me sometime."

"Do you want me to want to go out with you?"

"Yeah," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've wanted to ask you out since that first day on the baseball field when you had your hair in pigtails with those ribbons." When Macy blinked and gave him a blank look, he said, "What? You looked hot. Plus, you're fun and I can be myself around you."

"That's sweet," Macy replied with a huge smile on her face.

"So do you want to go out with me Friday night?"

"Yes," she said earnestly. "Just not to Meat."

"Deal!"

The two sat grinning at each other, both not sure what to do or say next. Finally, Van Dyke burst out, "Can I kiss you?"

"Here?" Macy asked, a little startled. "In the hallway at school?" He nodded. Her smile got even wider and instead of answering, she leaned forward and gently kissed him. He reacted immediately, kissing her back and reaching out to pull her closer. She could feel his hands on her waist as he hauled her onto his lap, never breaking the kiss. She was pretty sure that by now they had an audience, but she didn't care. She was enjoying herself – he was much better at this than hitting a baseball.

When they broke for air, he grinned down at her and reached to play with one of her curls. "Do you think you could wear your hair up with ribbons on Friday? That's a really good look for you."

As she leaned in to kiss him again, she made a mental note to wear ribbons more often.


	9. Being Stupid

_Disclaimer: I don't own JONAS._

_A/N: This is a super short tag to Double Date and Chasing the Dream. I really loved Nick trying to get Joe to stop talking in Double Date and felt like he would need to whine to someone after. And Macy appears to be my default character. _

"I kept telling Joe to stop talking, but he just kept going. It was sort of like watching a train wreck – I knew it was going to be messy but I couldn't look away," Nick said with a hint of exasperation. "I don't get why he's such an idiot about Stella. He pretty much shoved her right into Van Dyke's lap."

Macy shrugged, "People do stupid things all the time." She smirked at the curly-haired boy sitting next to her. "I know this really smart guy who thought it would be a good idea to try and trick one of his friends into thinking she was recording back-up for a song, which was a totally ridiculous plan that was bound to fail. I mean, like she wouldn't realize it wasn't her voice when she heard the song. But he thought he was pretty clever at the time."

Nick opened and closed his mouth like a fish, not sure what to say. Once Kevin had apologized, Macy had never brought up the incident again, so Nick had figured he had gotten off easy. "How did you know it was my idea?"

She hadn't explicitly said she knew it was him, but no one ever called Kevin or Joe really smart, so he figured she meant him. Plus, she had that smirk on her face that sort of gave it away.

"Are you kidding? The plan was way too devious for Kevin, and Joe only makes plans that benefit him. It had to be you."

Nick had to admit he was pretty impressed with her deductive reasoning; sometimes her fan-girl moments made him forget that she was smart and fairly devious herself. She had, after all, been the one to finally out maneuver Fiona.

"Good point," he finally replied. After a moment he looked over at the bubbly brunette next to him and said, "I know we never talked about it, but I am really sorry about hurting your feelings. We," he stopped himself and started over, "I never meant it to turn out that way."

His heart sped up a little as she leaned over and patted his hand. "I know, Nick. And I forgave you guys ages ago. The story just proved my point; everyone does stupid things sometimes, and we just need to be there for our friends to help them pick up the pieces."

He shrugged, "I guess. But somehow it seems like Joe and Kevin do more than their fair share of stupid stuff, leaving me to help clean up their messes."

She grinned at him, "That just means that they'll owe you, so you can save up and do something spectacularly stupid later."

He laughed. "How do you always find the positive in any situation?"

"It's a gift," she answered with a grin. Then she became more serious, "We should probably go do some damage control. How about you find Joe and see if you can keep him under control. I'll go talk Stella down off the ledge. I bet she's furious."

"Sounds good." He hesitated for a second before leaning over and giving Macy a quick hug. "I don't know what we'd do without you, Mace."

He was pleasantly surprised when she didn't faint. Instead she gave him one of her dazzling smiles, "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

He knew her well enough by now to ask, "Is that going up on your website?"

She stopped, obviously thinking about it. Then she shook her head, "No. My website is all about JONAS, and I'm pretty sure that was my friend Nick talking."

Nick hated being corny, so he kept the thought to himself, but he was pretty sure that was the nicest thing Macy Misa ever said to him.


End file.
